A Boy and His Bear Protector
by emeralddragonchild
Summary: Unrak was thirteen when he and his father moved to Riva. He remembers, very clearly, being introduced to Prince Geran.


Warning: Prince Geran/Unrak slash. Written as a request from a friend on livejournal.

* * *

As long as he can remember, Unrak has been trained. His father was a warrior, his family a long line of fine warriors. It was the way of their people. Unrak killed his first boar when he was eight, his first man when he was a nine. A man broke into their home while Unrak's father had been away, had tried to force himself on Unrak's mother. Unrak had stuck a knife into his back, twisting it up hard and angling towards the lungs, the heart.

The first time Unrak turned into a bear, he was ten years old. His father was away and he was playing in a field with his sisters. They ran away, but by time his mother came for him he was a boy again. He doesn't remember it, not very well. Being a bear is different from being a boy and it's hard to remember what happens during the transformations, even know that he's older and knows what it means.

Unrak was thirteen when he and his father moved to Riva. He remembers, very clearly, being introduced to Prince Geran, a toddler of three, and what his father told him that day. "You are his protector, Unrak. It is our family legacy to protect the Rivan line. As it is my destiny to protect King Belgarion, it is yours to protect Prince Geran and it will be your son's to protect his son's and so on and so forth.

Let it be known that Unrak took this responsibility seriously. When Geran played, Unrak stood nearby and watched over him. He knew this is what his training had been for, so that whenever Geran needed him Unrak would be able to keep him safe and secure.

Unrak noticed things. There was a man in the lower city that watched Geran too closely, watched all the young boys too closely. Once, Unrak took Geran to the stream in the woods that he liked to swim in and noticed the man follow them, saw him watch Geran undress from the bushes. The man didn't return to the city and after Unrak explained things to King Belgarion, no questions were ever asked.

When Geran got older, there were women that pushed their daughters towards the young prince. Though Unrak readied himself to keep an eye on Geran trying to sneak away with girls, he was surprised when it never happened. Geran seemed to like the girls well enough, he was polite and kind to them, danced with them and talked to them and accepted all their trinkets with good grace, he also was careful to hand them off to someone else or escort them back to their fathers or mothers.

Of course, when Geran grew old enough, his parents started talking about marriage. Prince Geran hated such discussions, insisted that he would not be a part of an arranged marriage. There were many times he stormed out of his father's council chambers, with Unrak following behind quietly.

Though Geran looked every bit his father's son, when it came to personality he was his mother reborn.

The day of his fifteenth birthday, Queen Ce'Nedra told Geran he would be marrying the youngest daughter of King Fulrach of Sendaria. Her tone made it clear that there would be no more arguing, no more discussion. In retaliation, Geran did what most Alorn men did: he found the closest tavern and proceeded to drink until he couldn't see straight.

It was Unrak that carried Geran back to his rooms. Unrak was a big man, from a long line of big men, and Geran was rather on the small side. His mother was little bigger than a child and King Belgarion himself only grew to be of average height, so perhaps it was no surprise. If anything, Unrak was grateful; carrying the prince would be a lot more difficult if he was the size of most men.

There was always a guard stationed outside Geran's rooms; there has always been one. Unrak offered the one on duty a grin when he opened the door for them and then drew it back closed after them. Unrak made his way to the bed, bending to lay Geran down.

Geran's arms tightened around Unrak's neck. "No," he mumbled. "No, stay. Don't go."

"Prince Geran," Unrak tried, pulling gently at one of Geran's arms. "You are in your room, in your bed. I'm just going to go to bed."

Geran blinked, his eyes huge and green. "Stay with me."

Unrak swallowed, "Prince Geran –"

"You always do that, always call me _prince _when you're trying to be _proper_."

"Geran, then. Geran, you don't know what you're asking."

"I do. I'm not a little boy anymore, Unrak. I know what I want." With that, he surged forward, lips clumsy before they found Unrak's.

"No," Unrak pulled away, jerking enough that he nearly knocked Geran off the bed. He looked hard at the wall, breathing carefully through his nose. "Geran, whether you like it or not you are the Crown Prince of Riva. One day you will be the King of the West. You have responsibilities."

"I don't care –"

"Of course you do," Unrak sighed, finally looking back at the boy. "You love Riva and you will make a great king one day. You will marry Princess Lyra and have many children and you will be happy."

"Don't be a fool, Unrak." Geran sighed. "I doubt there's a woman in all the universe that could make _me_ happy. The very idea of sex with a woman makes me sick to my stomach. Beldaran is going to have plenty of children and I'll be more than happy to name one of her sons as my heir. I like _men_, Unrak. I always have."

"I'm over a decade older than you."

"Aunt Pol is literally thousands of years older than Uncle Durnik."

"They don't count."

Geran sat up, "Unrak, my family has a certain legacy. The fact is that my father is probably not going to die anytime soon. Like Grandfather and Aunt Pol, he is a sorcerer and with that comes a very long life. He could literally rule for the next hundred years."

"No one knows that for sure, Geran."

"No one knows anything for sure, Unrak. You're just making up excuses and it's starting to make me angry. The next chance I get, I'm going to make a tree drop all its acorns on you, just you wait."

Unrak couldn't even help it; he laughed.

"Please, Unrak. If you don't feel the same, I can accept that. I'll even marry Lyra without any more protest. But if you can't look me in the eye and honestly say you don't feel _anything_, I'll never forgive you for denying us this."

"You're an awful lot like your mother, you know."

"Father says it's my best quality. Will you get over here and kiss me now?"

"Such impudence." Unrak complained, stepping closer.

Geran grinned, "You love it."

"I do." Unrak admitted. Whatever else he might have said became utterly unimportant when Geran pulled him down and their mouths met, properly, for the first time.


End file.
